


More like a hurricane

by cecilantro



Series: Lavender Skies [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Multi, Polyamory Negotiations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 11:57:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13880382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cecilantro/pseuds/cecilantro
Summary: Caleb wakes up in bed with Fjord and Molly and they take some time to figure it out.





	More like a hurricane

**Author's Note:**

> "To Douse The Flames" comes before this, but isn't essential for plot. this is more follow up :b  
> (its like 90% dialogue and 'we lie so much how the fuck do we make this work' forewarning)

Caleb woke to warmth, on every side, enveloping him. It was a cosy, tired warmth, and although the image of fire flashed in his mind very briefly, his unconscious dismissed it before it could reach even the front of his brain.   
His brain, which refused point fucking blank to kick into gear and figure out why he was so warm.   
Perhaps it would help to open his eyes?   
  
It didn’t help.

 

He closed them again, screwing them shut because there was  _ no possible way _ that he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. It couldn’t possibly be real.   
The night began to trickle into him slowly, like a gentle stream filling a shallow pond back to its brim.   
The scent of lavender hovered like a mist in his mind, present in the memories and the moment. It was a link, and he hooked one end of an imaginary thread to the present, and searched for the right memory to link the other end to.   
_ “I could wash it for you.” _ Mollymauk’s voice echoed in the cavity where his mind should be. His hair. The cavity began to take on features, the wash of moonlight, the hard orange light of a candle. Fjord and Mollymauk helping to strip him down so that he could climb into the bath.   
This wasn’t the source of the lavender. He would have to press on.   
The moment that Molly’s fingers had slid into his hair, Caleb’s tired, aching world had gone hazy. The sense of disassociation he hadn’t realised he’d been keeping slipped away, taking the memory of the trauma along with it. Molly’s touch had been so gentle.   
In the back of his mind again, the tiefling’s voice echoes,   
_ “Fjord, dear,” _ and that startles Caleb before he can remember the rest of the sentence.  _ Dear _ .   
Ah, his heart.   
The pet name had been so soft, so affectionate, Caleb was surprised he hadn’t picked up on it at the time. Or before, the way that Mollymauk and Fjord looked at one another. When had it started? The first night?   
No, not the affection, though something had been different after they had shared that room. The affection started after Mollymauk had gone down in battle.    
Caleb winced. That was not a pleasant memory.   
He could feel Mollymauk’s breath now, though, could feel the scarred chest rise and fall from where Caleb was, pressed against him.   
Back to remembering how he’d gotten here, then.   
Fjord had handed Molly the lavender oil, he recalled that, though the scene was hazy as Caleb had closed his eyes and relaxed into Molly’s touch.   
Oh, and Fjord had gotten in with them. Caleb had managed to trap that briefest flash of green skin in his mind, and he found himself smiling slightly to himself at the memory.   
He traced the memory along to Molly again, to the image of him leaning down, the heat of his lips as he pressed a kiss to Caleb’s forehead for the second time that night.   
Admittedly the first had been chaste and rushed, and this second one had been full of… love. There was no other explanation Caleb could find for the gaze, the heat, the gentle touch.   
He remembered Mollymauk following it with a kiss to Fjord’s cheek, and he sunk the anchor of the memory line in at Molly uncorking the bottle with his thumbnail.   
The memory blurred for a while as Caleb slipped between sleep and waking, both in his mind, and in the bed, lavender lulling him away. He fought to catch himself, and new leagues of memory arose to him.   
Mollymauk’s nimble fingers at his waist, pressing him back against the wall of the bath, then turning him around. Caleb felt a flicker of anxious disappointment as Molly moved, and pressed his hands to Caleb’s back.   
The massage, of course, that was probably why Caleb felt so  _ good _ and so  _ loose _ , like Molly had kissed him and the tension had melted away.    
Molly hadn’t kissed him. Not properly. How sad.   
He had dressed him, though, in Fjord’s under-leggings and, Gods, Mollymauk’s own coat. That was a show of love and trust as Caleb had never known, he had seen the care Molly took with his coat and scimitars.    
Another kiss from Molly, this time to his temple.    
He catalogued it away, mentally folding it like a precious tapestry and laying it in a draw for safekeeping.   
Fjord had carried him back to the inn, and Caleb suspects he must have fallen asleep on the way, because the memory trails off.   
Wait.   
There’s a fraction more, addled by sleep, if he had dreamt that night he would have suspected it was a dream.   
  
Oh, Gods, he had told Fjord and Molly that he loved them.   
And they had said it back.   
Well, Molly had, and Fjord had agreed, but it amassed to one and the same.   
So, that drew a close to the case of  _ why is Caleb sandwiched between two very attractive men? _

He let himself slip back into sleep, milking the time for all it was worth. He was sure that when he awoke, they would kick him out and they would ignore it, never speak of it again.

For the time being, though, he let his head rest on Molly’s chest, slid his arm over the one Fjord had around his chest, and fell back to sleep.

 

They were roused by Jester and Nott coming straight into their room an hour or two later, and if they had knocked, Caleb hadn’t heard it.   
“ _ Caleb _ !” Nott screeched, barrelling almost into the bed and halting hard when he raised his head to squint at her.   
“Nott? Are you alright, are you hurt?”   
Molly laid a hand to Caleb’s chest to feel his heartbeat, and mumbled at him to calm. Nott raked her eyes over the three of them, and Jester leaned against a wall and raised a hand to muffle her giggles.   
“N- No, I’m okay. You didn’t check on me last night, I thought you might have been hurt, or that Molly had eaten you-”   
“Not yet.” Molly grinned, mischievous as he sat up beside Caleb, hair ruffled and shirtless. “But soon.”   
“No!” Nott was aghast, and both Jester and Molly laughed,   
“It’s okay, Nott,” Jester moved in to set a hand on her shoulder, “Molly is just fooling around, we should go and get a drink or something.” She looked up to raise her eyebrows at Caleb. He nodded,   
“Yes, yes, we will catch up with you later, and see you downstairs.” And, when he caught sight of Nott’s concerned face, “Everything is okay.”   
“Okay.” Nott drawled, not entirely convinced, but she allowed Jester to guide her out of the room regardless.   
Fjord drew himself up on the other side of Caleb,   
“Now that’s a wake-up call.” he gestured to the door, and followed it with a couple of sniffs, “Lavender? Is that you, Caleb?”   
“All of us, actually.” Molly stretched his arms up, and when he lowered them, he placed one around Caleb, “I emptied the bottle into the bath, in the end.”   
“It’s nice.” Caleb said, his voice quiet, he summoned every bit of willpower not to lean into Molly’s shoulder. Both Fjord and Molly looked at him oddly, a mix of emotions with concern at the forefront.   
“You doin’ okay there, Caleb?” Fjord asked him, a hand moving to lay over Caleb’s forearm.   
He didn’t deserve this gentleness. He would rather they just kicked him out now, get it over with.   
“Hm.” It was a spacer, not a question, “ _ Ja _ , I am good.”   
Molly frowned. Fjord’s expression turned unreadable,   
“I know sometimes in our line of life y’ gotta lie, but I’d really appreciate if you didn’t lie to  _ us _ about this.” And he squeezed Caleb’s arm.   
“Is last night still on your mind?” Molly tilted his head so he could catch Caleb’s eye, and the wizard let out a sigh,   
“Not the parts you’d expect, small graces I suppose. The issue is…” and he trailed into a drawl, waved his free arm a little, “This. You.”   
Both Molly and Fjord drew back a little, taking their hands back to themselves. And there it was, Caleb thought grimly, the end.   
“It was only meant to be help for you.” Molly admitted, “You needed to relax, Fjord and I thought it would help.”   
“It got a little out of hand,” Fjord nodded, “I understand we overstepped a few boundaries, sorry about tha’”   
“Ah, I never have been good at reading signals.” Molly half-grimaced, half-smiled, an odd twist to his face as he slid out of bed and rooted around for his pants in the pile.   
Caleb was… a little confused.   
“Signals?” He looked over to Mollymauk, who turned to raise his eyebrows at him,   
“Fjord and I assumed you were… into us.”   
“Romantically, an’ all. Thought we might be in with a shot.” Fjord chipped in. Caleb was struck by the way they worked as one, and then just as suddenly and brutally struck by their words.   
“Me?” Caleb did not quite manage to verbalise his thoughts, “You- you- me?”   
Molly sat down, his pants a distant thought. Caleb’s breath was too shallow, and when Molly took his wrist, his pulse was fast. Molly slid closer to him,   
“Caleb, dear, breathe.”   
“Nice an’ deep an’ slow.” Fjord was there, too, helping. Caleb gulped, couldn’t manage it, and Molly took his hand in both of his own.   
“With me, then?”   
Caleb nodded.   
Molly led Caleb through a routine, one that Molly had used in his circus days numerous times to help part of his family through a panic attack. After a minute or two of regulating Caleb’s breathing, he sighed.   
“Sorry.”   
“Don’t apologise, there’s nothing wrong.” Molly leaned in and kissed him at his temple. “Try using your words, now.” and the smirk was back, laced with affection.   
Caleb rubbed his eyes with his free hand. His other, he fought the urge to tighten his grip. He was terrified that if he squeezed too hard, Molly would shatter to ash at his fingertips.   
(Like everything else, burned up and away.)   
“You and Fjord are…” He struggled for the term, “Together?”   
Molly’s eyes darted to Fjord. It was a question he left to the warlock.   
“We are.” Fjord answered slowly, curious even,    
“Ah,” Caleb says, “And you are both interested in  _ me _ ?”   
“We are.” There’s no hesitation in Molly’s voice. It leaves nothing for Caleb to misinterpret.   
“An’ you?” Fjord’s fingertips are at his shoulder, “With us?”   
Caleb looks between them.   
“I- I am, interested, yes. I would say that I have, I have… feelings.”   
“For us?” Fjord leaned over, gentle. Caleb found a small smile gracing his face.   
“For you.”   
Fjords fingertips ran down Caleb’s back, and Molly felt the stutter of Caleb’s breath as he exhaled.   
“How… do you want to do this?” Molly asked Caleb, squeezing his hand gently. “ _ Do _ you want to do this?”   
“Yes.” The word had passed through Caleb’s mouth before his mind, but he meant it wholeheartedly.   
“It’s not somethin’ I have any experience with.” Fjord mused to them, his hand cupping Caleb’s hip, so, so gentle. “A lot of it isn’t. Molly was new to me.”   
Molly gave a firm nod, a smirk,   
“Moving around so much,” His voice was low and serious despite his expression, “Doesn’t give much of an opportunity for relationships. And before that…” he trailed off, going distant. Caleb waited for him to finish, and when it became obvious he wouldn’t, he squeezed his hand.   
“I cannot say the same, I have had more than my share of experience.” He frowned, “It all went to shit.”   
“Would you look at this mess?” Molly smiled, a sad, gentle smile, “That is what we are, after all.”   
“Naw, not a mess.” Fjord corrected, “A hurricane is more accurate. But I’m up for tryin’ if y’ both are?”   
There was a pause. Fjord’s thumb skimmed back and forth against Caleb’s hip. Molly leaned in to press his shoulder to Caleb’s, his horn bumping the wizard’s head, gently. Caleb slid a hand to rest on Fjord’s knee.   
“It takes a lot of communication,” Caleb told them, concerned, “honesty, being open.”   
“Those aren’t really our specialty, now, are they?” Molly sighed. “I  _ can’t _ be open, because that tells you about my past, before the circus. And I can’t… I can’t…”   
“Nor can I.” Caleb shook his head, “I am locked out of my own mind for exactly the reason you saw last night.”   
“An’ I got secrets to keep you all safe.” Fjord’s sentence took them to quiet again.   
“If… we discuss how we feel in the moment.” Caleb tried, “It seems so easy, it is so hard.”   
“Limits!” Molly chirped helpfully, “Boundaries! Where to stop and start.”   
“That’s a good place to begin.” Caleb smiled, “Can we start with a kiss, please?”   
It was Fjord, to Caleb’s surprise, that pressed his fingers to the underside of Caleb’s jaw and tilted his chin to the ideal angle to kiss him.   
Molly tucked his head against Caleb’s neck, and when Fjord broke the kiss, the three huddled close together. Every piece of contact, every hand, patch of skin, each touch taken hungrily, an attempt to capture forever.

**Author's Note:**

> THIS MARKS THE FULL WHOLE ENTIRE WEEK OF FIC?? WOO  
> Anyway I'll continue to post as long as i have ideas tbh, whether itll be daily idk i can go months


End file.
